Isaac Carr and Kevair Kennedy scored 15 points apiece to lead balanced Wake Forest to an 82-64 victory over Charleston Southern Tuesday in Winston-Salem, N.C.
In his first start for the Demon Deacons, Kansas transfer Jamari McDowell tied his career high with 11 points as Wake Forest (2-1) bounced back from a 23-point thrashing at then-No. 24 Vanderbilt on Thursday.
Freshman twins Gavin Placide (14 points, eight rebounds) and Gallagher Placide (12 points, eight rebounds) led the Demon Deacons to a 35-29 edge on the boards after they had been outrebounded in their first two games.
Jefferson McLamb hit five triples and finished with 19 points to lead Charleston Southern (1-2) of the Big South Conference. Jacob Taylor contributed 11 points for the Buccaneers.
McDowell was part of a shakeup of the starting lineup by Demon Deacons coach Steve Forbes. The player that McDowell replaced, Carr, more than doubled his previous career high of seven points.
Also getting his first start for Wake Forest was Virginia Tech transfer Antonio Dorn.
The Demon Deacons took advantage of ball-handling issues by the Buccaneers, who committed 23 turnovers. Wake Forest outscored Charleston Southern off mistakes by a 31-8 margin.
After a slow start, in which they made just two of their first eight shots, the Demon Deacons took the lead for good with a 12-point run which included 3-pointers by Carr and Kennedy and put them up 14-4.
McLamb prevented Wake Forest from running away as he made a trio of 3-pointers in a stretch of less than three minutes midway through the first half.
But McDowell answered McLamb with a triple and a layup, triggering a 14-3 burst to swell the Demon Deacons’ lead to 33-17 with 3:30 left in the half.
In the second half, the Buccaneers never got the deficit into single digits.
Wake Forest had a 10-1 burst early in the period. Carr started the run with four points and Gallagher Placide added a pair of putbacks as the Demon Deacons surged to a 57-36 lead with 12:52 to go.
Later in the half, Xander Pintelon emerged after failing to score in the first half. Pintelon, who came off the bench after starting Wake Forest’s first two games, hit two 3-pointers on his way to scoring eight points.